Heart of the Warrior
by pehpig
Summary: Another looong Ichigo X Rukia one-shot. This one is for Valentine's Day. I wrote this in 2009 for the IchiRuki fan club. Theme: An Eccentric Valentine's Day. Yes, I totally ripped off Shakespeare. HE'S PUBLIC DOMAIN, PEOPLE! Bleach, I owneth it not.


**Summary:** Oh no! Valentines Day is tomorrow and Rukia didn't get any chocolate! What can she do? Maybe Urahara can help.

Rukia put the finishing touches on her cake, using the purple frosting to make a smiling face on a pink frosted background.

"There." She said. "Perfect!"

Orihime looked over to see what her friend was talking about.

"Oh, Kawaii!" she said. "It's a perfect Chappy cake!"

Rukia beamed with pride.

"Thank you Orihime-chan. This 'Home Economics' is getting to be my favorite class. I hope the Kurosakis will like it when I bring it home today."

"Of course they will." Orihime exclaimed. "Something that cute is sure to be delicious."

Rukia was filled with happiness from her friend's praise. She looked over to see how Orihime's project was coming along.

"You're making some kind of cupcakes?" she asked.

"These are my chocolates for Valentine's day." Orihime replied. "See, I made one for Chad and Kojima-kun and Ishida-kun and…uh…Kurosaki-kun."

If Rukia noticed Ichigo's chocolate was bigger and more elaborate than all the others, she gave no sign. If anything, Orihime thought her friend looked puzzled. She tried to explain.

"Um, I know you usually only make honmei choco and not giri choco yourself, but I wanted to make something special for our friends. You'll never guess the main ingredient!"

Rukia was still very confused. "I'm sorry Orihime-chan, honmei choco? Valentine's Day?"

Orihime gasped. "You don't know about Valentine's Day Kuchiki-san?"

She had known for some time now that Rukia came from a different world. The gaps in her friend's knowledge still snuck up on her at times like this.

"Is it important?" Rukia asked.

"Is it important!" Orihime was shocked. "Kuchiki-san, it's tomorrow!"

She then went on to explain just what Valentine's Day meant in Karakura, indeed all over Japan. How you gave friends and coworkers giri choco. How significant others received more elaborate and expensive or homemade honmei choco. How lately, you could even give your female friends tomo choco if you liked. Most importantly, how a man who didn't receive even a giri choco lost face and had to endure public embarrassment. Rukia was dismayed by what she learned.

"What can I do?"She asked Orihime. "It's too late to make chocolates now."

"Well, you can still buy them at pretty much any store. "Orihime said as she put her little cakes into boxes. "They're usually around 500 yen. Don't worry though. I have all our friends covered. I even made one for Asano-kun."

She held up the cake she had baked for him.

"That's a very small choco." Rukia said.

Orhime scratched the back of her head. "Ah ha ha, yes. I kinda miscalculated and didn't have enough to make it the same size as the others."

Rukia figured that being it was for Asano, he would be happy to get anything at all. She carefully put the chappy cake into a box for the trip home.

* * *

"You're awfully quiet today." Ichigo said.

"I have a lot on my mind, OK?" Rukia said grumpily.

"Are you going to let me look in that box or what?" he asked. "You won't tell me what it is and it's been driving me nuts since we left school."

"Suffer." She replied. "You'll see it after dinner when we get home."

"I can smell it." He said. "I'm betting it's some kind of cake."

He tried to grab the box out of her hands. She was too quick for him and deftly moved the box beyond his reach while slapping his hand. She scowled at him for being so rude.

"Greedy! See if I give you any now."

He pretended to not care.

"Tch. Fine, whatever."

He increased his stride to get a few feet in front of her. Ordinarily the silent treatment might have bothered her, but she really did need to think. Even if giri choco was inexpensive, she had no money. Since joining the Kurosaki household openly, Isshin gave her an allowance just like he did for his own children. The problem was, she had already spent it. She looked down at her cell phone and the new charm attached to it. It was the latest in a collectible series, the rare and expensive Tuxedo Chappy. She had been so happy to get it even though it had cost her every yen she had. Now it seemed like Chappy's smile was mocking her. True, all the boys at school were going to get chocolate from somebody. None of them would hold it against her if she didn't give them one. None of the boys except one. She glanced up to watch Ichigo walking in front of her. His every movement seemed to say '_I'm ignoring you_.' She could just imagine how it would be tomorrow if he didn't get a chocolate from her. Probably walking even farther in front of her without speaking, head down, shoulders slumped, positively radiating anger and disappointment. No, she had to find some way of getting her hands on chocolates for Valentine's Day. She took another regretful look at the dapper, smiling Chappy charm. In a flash, the solution came to her.

The Chappy → her cell phone → chocolates → _Urahara_!

She had plenty of bounty credits stored on her phone from killing hollows and Urahara ran a candy shop as a front! He would be able to help her out. With her problem solved, she felt as though a weight had been removed from her shoulders. Stepping up her pace, she bumped Ichigo as she walked past.

"Move it slowpoke." She said with a smile. "It's almost dinner time."

* * *

"Valentine's Day chocolates?" Ururu said. "I'm not sure we have any."

Rukia had finally managed to sneak away from Ichigo and had arrived at Urhaha's store just as the sad faced girl was about to close the shop. She was looking at the picture of a heart shaped chocolate Rukia had clipped from a newspaper.

"This is a candy store." Rukia said. "You have to have something."

"We have lots of different candies." Ururu replied. "We just never paid much attention to things like this. Maybe that's why we don't get a lot of customers."

"Well can you ask Tessai or Urahara if they have anything like this." Rukia asked.

Ururu bowed, "Hai. I'll be right back."

Ururu searched the store while Rukia waited up front. She didn't see anyone in the storage room. No one was in the living quarters either. This wasn't fair as Jinta was supposed to be helping her lock up. Finally, she searched though Urahara's personal quarters. She found him in his office, slumped over his desk, snoring as he drooled on a ledger he had been writing in. She hated to wake him up. She started back towards the front of the shop to tell Rukia she couldn't help her at this time. As she headed back, she passed Urahara's small workshop. Glancing inside, she was surprised by what she saw.

"Will this do Kuchiki-san?" Ururu held out a small chocolate heart to Rukia. She picked it up and took a good look at it.

"Why this is perfect." She said. "How many do you have?"

"There were dozens in the back." Ururu said. "Urahara-san must have made them, then forgot to put them on display. Tell me how many you will need and I'll box them up for you."

"Very well." Rukia said. "I'll take a half dozen. Please charge them against my bounty credits."

"Right away ma'am." Ururu scampered off to box up the chocolates, pleased that she had been able to handle the sale all by herself without disturbing anyone.

* * *

Urahara felt good as he went back to his workshop. After waking up with his face stuck on his ledger, he realized he had been working too hard again. A good night's sleep, a hearty breakfast and a lengthy soak in the tub had gone a long way towards restoring his energy and now that lunch was finished, he felt ready to continue his latest experiment. He looked over his notes on the counter and winced at the scrawls he saw. He must have been up for two days straight when he wrote that. That's what happened when he got all wrapped up in a new concept. And what a concept it was. It was mostly finished now and only required some testing before he could write up the results. He ran his eye down the rows of what appeared to be chocolate hearts in eager anticipation of completing his experiment. As his gaze moved towards the end, the break in the pattern leapt out at him. He rushed over to the gap. Counting under his breath, he saw that six of the hearts were missing.

"Oh, no." he muttered under his breath. "This is bad."

He stuck his head out into the hallway. "Tessai, Jinta, Ururu, could you come here please?"

* * *

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Orihime crowed as she handed out her cakes. "Here you go. I made one for each of you."

She had approached the boys as they sat eating lunch on the roof and went around the circle handing each one a gaily decorated box. Ishida opened his immediately.

"This looks lovely Inoue-san. Thank you." He said.

"It tastes even better than it looks." She replied. "Go on, try it!"

With a smile, Ishida took a big bite. The smile froze in place as his taste buds registered what was on his tongue.

"It that…wasabi?" He asked around a mouthful of confection.

"It acts as a counter-point to the sweetness so you really can taste the chocolate." Orihime said. "What do you think?"

Ishida swallowed carefully. " I think I'll save this for after dinner." He said as he put the chocolate back in its box and closed the lid. The other boys muttered something similar as they put her gift off to the side.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Happy Valentine's Day, Happy Valentine's Day." Tatsuki droned as she walked around the circle dropping a chocolate in front of each boy.

"This is just a Hershey's kiss." Ichigo complained as he picked the small chocolate off the ground.

"And you better not forget about me on White day." She said with a feral grin.

"Orihime-Chan!" Chizuro squealed as she ran up to Inoue. "Happy Valentine's day! This is for you."

She handed Orihime a huge heart-shaped box of chocolates.

"Wow, that's a really nice for a tomo choco." Orihime said.

"Oh, but it's not a tomo choco." Chizuru said as she waved her index finger back and forth, "It's my super-special, ultra-sincere _HONMEI _choco!"

"What the hell are you talking about you crazy witch." Tatsuki snarled. "You don't give girls honmei choco."

"Speak for yourself." Chizuru answered. "A girl as sweet and sexy as Orihime-chan deserves nothing less. Give me a kiss if you agree honey!"

She lunged at Orihime only to smash into Tatsuki's fist.

"Nice…block." Chizuru groaned as she slumped to the ground.

"I'm sorry Chizuru-chan" Orihime said. "I don't have a chocolate for you. I didn't make enough."

"You can borrow one from me." Rukia said. " I brought an extra."

"Oh, thank you Kuchiki-san." Orihime said as she took the offered sweet. "Here you go Chizuru-chan. Happy Valentine's day."

Chizuru sprang to her feet immediately. "Really? For me?" She took the chocolate and swept Orihime up in a fierce hug. "Thank you hon-eee! You've really made my day."

She sneered at Tatsuki. "See, my precious Orihime-chan DOES have feelings for me!"

She pulled down her lower eyelid and stuck her tongue out at Tatsuki, then scampered off before she could retaliate.

"She just felt sorry for you, you goofy hag!" Tatsuki shouted.

In the meantime, Rukia was distributing her gifts to the boys.

"Here you go Kojima-Kun." She said.

"Thanks." He replied. "I'm going to need my shopping bag at this rate." Already the slight young man had a large pile of chocolates by his side.

"For you Asano-kun." She said as she handed him one. He began to cry.

"This is unbelievable. " he sobbed. "Three chocolates! I've never received so many in my entire life!"

Chad merely smiled as she handed him his gift. Ishida politely accepted his, then went back to wiping his tongue on a handkerchief as discreetly as possible. Rukia then sat down and opened up her bento.

"Ahem." She heard a certain someone cough next to her. She ignored it.

"AHEM!" This time it held a distinctly irritated note in it. Rukia glanced to her side.

"Oh, hello Ichigo. Are you catching a cold?" She said while using her most sweet and innocent voice.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Ichigo growled.

"Hmmm." She put her finger on her chin. "Now that you mention it, I did forget the salt."

She reached over to Ichigo's lunch and took his salt packet, tearing it open and sprinkling it liberally over her lunch.

"That's not what I meant." He said with a scowl.

Asano glomped onto Ichigo's back.

"Man, I feel your pain." He wailed. "To be overlooked on Valentine's Day and by Kuchiki-san no less! You must be heartbroken. At long last, we share a common heartache!"

Ichigo casually shoved him off. He got up and dusted off his pants. "I'll see you later." He said.

"Aren't you going to finish your lunch?" Mizuiro asked.

"You can have it." Ichigo replied. "I've lost my appetite."

If he had looked back at that time, he might have caught Rukia struggling to suppress a huge grin.

* * *

Ishida chuckled to himself as he walked home. The last few hours of school had been endlessly amusing as he watched Kurosaki fume in his seat. What a dope, all upset because he didn't get chocolate from a certain someone. It was so obvious Kuchiki-san was just teasing him. Thinking of chocolate made him want to scrape his tongue again. He knew Orihime had weird tastes but still!

All thoughts of school and chocolate fled his mind as he suddenly realized he was being watched. Turning around, he saw the huge form of Urahara's assistant Tessai behind him. To his right was the red haired boy, Jinta. Both were obviously tense and seemed very focused on him. He was not at all surprised by the voice that came from his left.

"Ah, Ishida-san. Happy Valentine's Day to you. What a splendid time to be young, eh?"

He hadn't even felt Urahara approach. Unconsciously, he touched the Quincy bangle at his wrist. Something was not right here. Urahara and his people had been his allies often in the past, but Shinigamis didn't always think like humans and had different motivations.

Urahara continued, "A handsome young man like yourself, I'm sure you received many chocolates today."

"Maybe." Ishida said warily. "Why would that be of interest to you?"

"Is it possible you received one from Miss Kuchiki Rukia?" Urahara asked.

"Yes, I did, not that it's any business of yours." Ishida was getting a little nervous. Just where was all this leading?

"Tell me Ishida-san. Did you eat it?"

Urahara hadn't made any noticeable moves, but suddenly his usual casually carefree attitude disappeared. Everything about him was now deadly serious and threatening. Ishida got the impression that his answer would be crucial. He prepared himself to react to whatever came next.

He said "No."

Urahara, Tessai and Jinta let their breaths out as though relieved. The undercurrent of imminent danger evaporated.

"Would you mind telling me what this is all about?" Ishida asked.

"Yes, Ishida-san, we'll tell you everything." Urahara said. "You may even want to come along to help. But first, why don't you give me that chocolate?"

* * *

"I can't believe I have to clean up the gym because of you!" Tatsuki snarled.

She punctuated every word by savagely thrusting a push broom across the gym floor.

"You started it." Chizuru said as she wiped down the pommel horse. "I was simply minding my own business waiting my turn in gymnastics, but no, you had to go and attack me. I just don't see why I have to be punished too!"

"You were not just waiting your turn." Tatsuki complained, "You were about to tackle Orihime again!"

"Ah, but how could I resist?" Chizuro crooned. "Especially when she gave me this wonderful token of her undying love."

She pulled the chocolate Orihime had borrowed from Rukia out of her pocket and opened the box.

"See, it's even in the shape of a heart." She took a bite. "It's delicious too! It has a lemon filling."

"Really?" Tatsuki said. She snatched the chocolate from Chizuru's hand.

"Hey, that's mine!" Chizuru protested.

"You can have it back when you finish helping me!" Tatsuki barked.

She ignored Chizuru sticking her tongue out at her again and picked up her broom. Before putting the chocolate in her pocket, just out of curiosity, she took a bite herself. It really was great chocolate.

* * *

"Three whole chocolates, can you believe it Mizuiro?" Keigo gloated.

"It is pretty impressive for you." His friend replied. He had come prepared with a shopping bag in his backpack, but even so, he could barely haul the many chocolates he had received.

Keigo started eating his chocolates by starting with Tatsuki's Hersey kiss. He sighed with contentment.

"So this is what affection tastes like. You know, I often suspected Tatsuki of having a thing for me." He said.

"You may wish to gather more evidence before acting on that suspicion Asano-san." Mizuiro replied.

"Stop being so formal." Keigo complained.

He pulled Orihime's chocolate out of his satchel then quickly put it back in. Next, he pulled out Rukia's chocolate.

"I'm betting Rukia-chan's is the sweetest of all." Keigo said. " You don't think Ichigo got jealous when she gave one to me."

By this time Mizuiro was busy checking his messages on his cell phone. "I know he was pretty mad she didn't give him one."

Keigo had removed the box and the wrapper and took a good look at the confection. "That's funny." He said.

"What's that?" Mizuiro said looking up from his phone.

"There's something written on the front in Kanji." Keigo replied. He traced the symbol with his finger. "It says 'Courage'. That's an odd thing to put on a Valentine." He took a bite. "It's good though. It has a raspberry filling."

"Hmm." Mizuiro said. "I'll look at mine too."

Opening his, he saw it had the symbol for "Paranoia" on it. That couldn't be right. He must be misinterpreting it. Taking a bite, he noticed his had a mousse-like chocolate filling.

"No, Stop that!" The boys heard.

It was a girl's voice coming from a nearby alley. They ran over to see their classmate Ogawa Michiru surrounded by three older boys. One of them had a chocolate box that he held just out of her reach.

"Give that back!" She cried as she jumped up and down trying to snatch it out of his hand.

"You mean it's not for me?" He jeered. "Here, catch!" He threw it over her head to his comrade behind her.

"Here you go." The boy said as he held it out. Michiru reached out to take it but the boy jerked it out of her reach again. "Oops, too slow." The boys all laughed cruelly.

Keigo heard his pulse pounding in his ears. What should he do? Normally, he'd get Ichigo or Chad to handle something like this, but he had no idea where they were. Somebody had to do something! At that moment, he felt something change in him. He felt anger and resolve and purpose. Yes, somebody had to do something about this. And that somebody was him!

"Hey maggots!" Keigo shouted. "Why don't you go crawl back under the rock you came from?"

Michiru looked over to see her rescuer. Her face fell in dismay as she saw who it was. "Asano-kun?" she asked.

The largest boy turned to look as well. "What have we got here?" He drawled. "You her boyfriend or something?"

"I'm the guy you don't want to mess with." Keigo said as he approached the bullies.

"Asano-kun, run! Don't get hurt just for me." Michiru pleaded.

"Listen to the little bitch, wimp." The leader said with a sneer. "You don't want none of this. I just bought these shoes. I'd hate to get blood on them."

"No, you listen to me, punk." Keigo said. "I don't like what I'm seeing here and I'm putting a stop to it. What's more, I think you should apologize."

He emphasized his point by poking the larger boy in the chest.

"That does it." The boy said as he raised his fist. "Nice knowing you meatball!"

Michiru closed her eyes. She couldn't bear to see what happened next. She heard the thuds and smacks of fists hitting flesh, the cries of pain and the ripping of cloth. Just when it seemed she couldn't stand it anymore, it was over.

"You can open your eyes now." Keigo said.

Michiru opened her eyes to see the other boys gone and Keigo, with a bloody nose and a torn jacket holding their bruised leader in a painful arm lock.

"Now apologize!" Keigo ordered.

"Gomenesai." The bully whined.

"And?" Keigo prompted as he applied more pressure.

"Sorry I called you a bitch?" The boy quavered.

"Close enough." Keigo said. He released the older boy and sent him sprawling in the dust with a kick in the pants. The former tough guy scrambled to his feet and took off running.

"Don't ever let me catch you animals around here again!" Keigo shouted at his retreating back.

Michiru was amazed. "Thank you Asano-kun." She said. " I never thought you were that tough."

Keigo puffed up his chest. "It was nothing" He said. He picked the girl's chocolate off the ground and dusted it off. "I'm sorry, but it looks like this got stepped on."

"It's not that important." Michiru said. "I'm sorry you got hurt getting it back."

"Don't worry about it." Keigo said. "Say, why don't you come with me to the store. I'll get some bandages and you can get another chocolate."

Keigo held out the crook of his arm. Hesitantly Michiru took it. She never really noticed Keigo before. She saw him now in an entirely new light. As the strolled off, Keigo finally noticed Mizuiro was missing.

I wonder where he went, he thought.

* * *

I wonder what's keeping Tatsuki, Orihime thought.

She was supposed to meet her out in front of the school half an hour ago. She poked her head in to the gym.

"Tatsuki. Are you in here?" She called out.

"Orihime!" Tatsuki cried. "Help!"

"Yes hurry!" Chizuru screeched. "It's horrible!"

Orihime rushed into the room ready to take on whatever could have terrified her friends. Tatsuki and Chizuru were all the way on the top row of the bleachers clutching each other in sheer terror. Looking all around, Orihime couldn't see anyone or anything else in the gym besides her friends.

"Uh, guys." Orihime said. "What am I supposed to be seeing here?"

"Can't you see it?" Tatsuki said. "It's a monster!"

Orihime looked around again. "I'm sorry, I don't see anything." She said.

"AAHHH! It's right by your foot!" Chizuru screamed.

Orihime looked down. "You mean this little spider?"

"Yes! That's it! That's the beast! Save us!" Tatsuki yelled.

Orihime paused and looked at her friends. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"_DOES IT LOOK LIKE WE'RE JOKING_!" Chizuru howled.

From the looks of things it seemed her friends were genuinely terrified of the small spider who was even now scuttling towards the corner.

"OK guys. If I take care of the spider, will you come down from there?" Orihime asked.

The two frightened girls babbled their assent and swore their undying loyalty if only Orihime saved them from the horrifying arachnid. Taking a piece of paper from her back pack, she carefully scooped up the spider and gently deposited it outside.

"It's gone." She announced. "You can come down now."

Quivering in fright, the two girls started to slowly make their way back down to the floor. Suddenly Chizuru let out a terrified squeal.

"_AAAAHHH! DUSTBUNNY_!"

Gibbering in terror, the girls ran back up to the top of the bleachers covering their eyes to block out the sight.

It was obvious to Orihime something was very wrong. She was going to have to get her friends some help.

But first she was going to have to get them down.

* * *

Rukia smirked at Ichigo's back as they walked home. It was exactly as she pictured it. The slumped shoulders. The bad attitude. The air of gloom and misery. It was wrong of her to enjoy torturing him so much, but sometimes she just couldn't resist. Besides, she didn't want to give him his chocolate in front of their classmates. She wanted the first time she gave him a Valentine's day chocolate to be a special and private occasion.

"This Valentine's day is an interesting custom you have here in the real world, wouldn't you say Ichigo?" she asked in her most saccharine tone.

He grunted noncommittally.

"And I understand that the boys have to give the girls something back on White day. Is that correct?"

Again he grunted.

"With all the chocolates I gave out, I'm sure to get lots of gifts then, wouldn't you say?"

Ichigo stopped walking and turned to face her. "Look can we just stop talking about this stupid crap? It's really annoying."

Rukia could see he'd had enough. He turned and walked even faster towards home. She jogged to catch up.

"You're sure in a bad mood." She said. "Could it be because you wanted one of these?"

She waved his chocolate in front of him where he could see it.

Ichigo stopped dead in his tracks. He took the box from her hands. Not only did she buy him a chocolate, but she had covered the box with smiling bunny pictures. Her crappy, childish bunny pictures. They were holding a huge banner that said "Happy Valentine's Day Ichigo!" He looked up at her, meeting her eyes for the first time in hours.

"You had this for me all along?" He accused.

"Yup!" Rukia said with a grin. "I wanted to give it to you in private. I wouldn't want to spoil your macho, lone-wolf image with our classmates"

He wanted to stay angry with her. He didn't want to forgive her for making him look foolish. In the end, he couldn't do it. He broke out in one of his rare, genuine smiles.

"Thank you. I appreciate it. Really." He tore open the box.

"Hey, careful!" Rukia exclaimed. "I spent hours on those drawings."

"I'm starving." Ichigo said. As soon as he got the chocolate heart out he took a huge bite. He cocked an eyebrow at Rukia.

"Strawberry filling. Is that a joke?" He asked.

"I didn't know what flavor the filling was." Rukia replied truthfully.

"It's really good." Ichigo said as he took another huge bite.

"Really? Then let me have a taste." Rukia said.

"No way." Ichigo muttered around his mouthful of chocolate. "You made me miss lunch."

"Aw come on, let me have a taste." She said.

She tried snatching the last piece out of his hand, but he held it up out of her reach. He could tell by her smiling face and playful manner she wasn't really serious. Dodging Rukia as she hopped up and down to steal the chocolate, he twisted away from her and shoved the rest in his mouth.

"'Dere," He said with his mouth full. "Aw gone." Driblets of chocolate ran from the corners of his mouth.

"Eww. That's disgusting" Rukia said. She pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket. "Bend down where I can reach you."

Ichigo complied, still grinning over his little victory. Rukia dabbed the handkerchief on her tongue and began to wash the chocolate off his face.

"Honestly Ichigo, sometimes it's like you're just a big baby." She said. She scrubbed and wiped until Ichigo's face was clean again.

"There you go." She said as she patted his chest. "All set."

She leaned up to grin at him, proud that her surprise had worked and that she had made him happy. She expected him to say something cocky and then they would wander home. After a few seconds, she realized that wasn't going to happen. Her gin faded as she absorbed the look on Ichigo's face.

"Ichigo? Are you alright?" She asked.

"How could I have not seen this before?" He said with a dazed tone.

"Seen what" Rukia replied.

"Your eyes." Ichigo said. "They're the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen."

Rukia was shocked. "Excuse me?"

What he said next really shook her.

"What if her eyes were there, they in her head?" Ichigo recited. "The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars, as daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven would through the airy region stream so bright that birds would sing and think it were not night."

Rukia gave a nervous laugh. "Ichigo, what are you doing. Are you trying to get back at me for lunch time?"

He stepped closer. "Pray you now, forget and forgive. Love from one side hurts, but love from two sides heals. "

Rukia found she suddenly couldn't breathe. What did he just say! Did he actually use the word LOVE!

"Don't…don't say things like that." She stammered. "You can't mean it. You're trying to tease me."

"Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love. " He responded.

It was as if she was no longer anchored to the ground. Her world was shaken to it's very foundations. Ichigo was very important to her, true, but this! How? When? She fought to understand, fought to take it all in and more than anything fought a very real part of her that hungered to embrace the feelings she hadn't realized until that moment were lurking in the back of her heart.

Ichigo was her friend, her nakama. He wasn't anything more. Was he? Had he always felt like this about her? More importantly, how was she supposed to respond? In her confusion and conflict with the unexpected longing, she found herself babbling as she slowly backed away from him.

"Look, Ichigo, I…I don't know what to say. I...I mean, I know I gave you a chocolate..."

She gasped as the words triggered her memory. The chocolate. Of course! There was something in the chocolate! She had to act fast. Now that she had a problem she could understand, she knew what she had to do.

"Ichigo. You keep going home."She ordered. "I have to go somewhere."

She began to walk away. He did not obey her.

"When you depart from me sorrow abides, and happiness takes his leave." He said. "I'm going too."

"I mean it! You turn around and go home now!" She commanded.

Ichigo's scowl was starting to return. "I'll follow you and make a heaven out of hell, and I'll die by your hand which I love so well" he declared.

Rukia cursed under her breath. There was nothing else for it. Without saying a word, she sprinted down a random street.

Ichigo was caught flat footed. He was several yards behind as he chased Rukia. She swerved into an alley with Ichigo in hot pursuit. As he entered the alley, she was nowhere in sight. Pausing to look left and right, he continued to run down the alley.

Once his steps died away, Rukia rose up from behind the restaurant specials board she had hidden behind. Being petite had its advantages sometimes. It might be difficult finding Ichigo again, but she had to leave him. She mentally slapped herself for being so foolish as to think anything she got from Urahara's shop was harmless. Knowing she had to get him help, she made a beeline for where the trouble all began.

Urahara's shop.

If there was any way to fix this, she'd find it there.

* * *

Kojima Mizuiro couldn't believe the danger he was in. They were everywhere, all around him. There was no one he could trust. He slipped from one position of cover to another, not making a move until he was sure he would not be seen. There was no telling who or what could be a spy for…them! He had to get home, had to make it secure. Sweat poured down his brow as he plotted his next move.

"There he is!" he heard someone shout.

He whipped his head around. It was Ishida Uryuu. Of course!

"I knew it was you Ishida!" He shouted. "You're one of them! You're just a puppet for them!"

He turned and ran but didn't get far before he ran into a net held by a huge man with glasses.

"Let me go!" He screamed. "You're not taking me for your secret experiments! I'll never talk!"

He saw a strange man with a striped hat approach. He held up a green gelatinous square.

"Tessai, hold his mouth open please." He said.

Mizuiro felt strong fingers grip the sides of his jaw, forcing his mouth to open against his will.

"I must apologize." The stranger said. "I had to make up the antidote in a hurry. It's 100% effective, but I'm afraid I didn't spare a lot of time on the taste or texture."

He shoved the green square in to Mizuiro's mouth. It tasted awful.

* * *

Ururu threw herself on the ground as soon as Rukia walked in the door.

"Gomenesai!" She wailed.

"Hey, stop that." Rukia ordered. "Get off the floor."

"I'm so sorry Kuchiki-san." The sad faced girl said. "It's all my fault. I didn't know the chocolate wasn't for sale."

"So you knew what the chocolate did?" Rukia asked.

Ururu shook her head. "I didn't know it was anything but ordinary chocolate when I sold it to you. I'm so sorry!" She began to sniff as her eyes welled up with tears.

"It's all right." Rukia said. "I forgive you. Now where is Urahara?"

"He's gone." Ururu replied. "He left some time ago to help fix things. He left me here in case you showed up." She ran to the backroom and returned holding a covered plastic bowl.

"Here is the antidote." She said cracking open the lid. "We have to give one to everyone who ate the chocolate."

Rukia wrinkled her nose. It smelled pretty sour. She thought about Ichigo and wondered how she was going to find him. If he was still looking for her, who knows where he was now? He wasn't the only one she gave chocolate to either. Guilt filled her mind as she thought about the others. She decided she had to forget about Ichigo for now. She had to go where the antidote would do the most good.

"Come on Ururu."She said. "You can help me fix things. Follow me!"

* * *

"This way." Orihime said. "Just keep holding my hands. I said _HANDS _Chizuru-chan!"

The only way she had been able to convince Tatsuki and Chizuru to come down from the bleachers was to blindfold them and assure them there was nothing frightening as she tried to get them to the nurses office. She didn't know what was wrong with them. She only knew she had to get them some help. Hearing the sound of running feet she looked to see Rukia and the sad faced girl from Urahara's shop rushing by.

"Kuchiki-san!" Orihime yelled. "Come here! I need help!"

Rukia immediately changed course. Huffing and puffing from her long run, she managed to strangle out one word. "Chocolate!"

"Huh?" Orihime said. "What did you say? I didn't understand."

"Did anyone…huff…eat…puff...that chocolate I gave you?" Rukia asked.

"We did." Tatsuki said. "Here's what's left."

Without taking off her blindfold, she took the remainder of the candy out of her pocket and held it out in a random direction.

Rukia took it out of the box and looked at the still legible symbol. It was 'Fear'.

"I'm so sorry." Rukia said. "I'm afraid there was something bad in the chocolate."

"Here you go." Ururu said as she handed each a green cube. "Eat this. It will make you feel better."

"Who said that?" Chizuru said. "I don't know that person!"

"You trust me, don't you Chizuru-chan?" Orihime asked. "Please do as she says."

"Well, if it's for you Orihime-chan." Chizuru said.

"If she can take it, so can I!" Tatsuki declared. Both girls put the cubes in their mouths and chewed.

"Ugh, this is nasty!" Chizuru complained.

"I'll say!" Tatsuki said. "It's like sour and rank at the same time. Ugh"

"Do you feel any better?" Rukia asked.

Tatsuki thought for a minute. "Yeah, actually." She took off her blindfold. "Everything looks back to normal."

"Is it?" Chizuru said. She took off her blindfold next. "You're right. Everything looked gigantic and creepy earlier. I could hardly stand it!"

"Can I try one of those?" Orihime asked. Without receiving a reply, she picked one of the green squares out of the bowl.

"Orihime, don't. That stuff is nasty!" Tatsuki said.

Her friend didn't seem to be listening. With a thoughtful expression on her face, Orihime chewed the odd looking antidote slowly as she tried to thoroughly analyze it's taste.

"Hmmm. It kinda reminds me of starfruit and lemon with a dash of rutabaga and strong overtones of horseradish." She reached for another one.

"Please stop." Ururu said holding the bowl away. "These were not made for snacking."

Rukia intervened., "Orihime." she said, "Have you seen Asano, Kojima or Chad anywhere?"

"Well, I don't know where Asano-kun or Kojima-kun are, but Chad was at the ball field the last time I saw him."

"Quickly, we have no time to lose!" Rukia said as she led the charge to the ball field.

* * *

Chad was thoroughly enjoying the chocolate Kuchiki-san had given him. It had a subtle tasting blueberry filling. While he hadn't done too shabby in collecting chocolates this year, this one was his favorite so far.

"There he is!" He heard someone shout.

"Chad! Drop the chocolate!"

"We're too late!"

He looked over to see the girls running towards him at top speed. Tatsuki arrived first and delivered a flying spin kick that numbed his hand and sent the chocolate flying.

"Quickly, you have to eat this!" Rukia breathlessly commanded holding up a square of something green.

Somewhat bemused, he put the odd confection in to his mouth. His face contorted at the awful taste.

"Ugh." He said. "What was that? What's going on here?"

None of the girls answered him. Chizuru had picked up the chocolate and rushed it over to Rukia.

"What does it say?" Tatsuki asked.

"It says, 'Calm'." Rukia replied. She looked at Chad sheepishly. "Uh, I guess that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

"Can someone explain what is going on here?" He asked again.

Before she could answer she heard her name being shouted across the schoolyard.

"_**RUKIA!**_"

Ichigo was running towards her. How had he known where she was?

"Rukia!" He said panting. " I found you. I was worried."

She scrambled to get another dose of the antidote. She had to snap him out of it before he started yammering about her eyes or something in front of everybody. Picking one out from the bowl Ururu held, she thrust it towards his face.

"Here, eat this now!" She ordered.

He smiled. "My heart is ever at your service. "

His smile soon faded as he chewed. Then he frowned. Then he screwed up his face as though sucking on a lemon.

"Oh, geez!" He said as he started looking around on the ground. Rukia figured out what he was going to do.

"Don't you dare spit that out!" She barked. "You swallow it. Now!"

He obeyed and started complaining as soon as his mouth was empty.

"Dammit Rukia, why did you make me eat that? Ugh, it tastes like a cactus threw up in my mouth!"

"Never mind that now." She said. "It's not important."

She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out of earshot from the rest of their friends.

"OK, Ichigo, I have to ask you something and it's very important you answer truthfully. You got that?" She asked.

"Yeah, sure." He said. "What do you need to know?"

She took a deep breath. Then, standing as straight and tall as she could, she looked him in the eye.

"Ichigo," she said, "Do you love me?"

His eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets. "W..wh…What?" he stammered.

"I said, do you love me?"

Ichigo couldn't speak. His face became marble mask as he froze in terror with his mouth open.

"Well, aren't you going to say you love me with the fury of a thousand suns or something?" She asked.

His jaw began to work again as he struggled to answer. "Uh…I…that is...uh…."

Rukia heaved a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness." She said. "You're back to normal." She walked back to their friends. "He's OK everybody." She said.

"I still don't understand what's going on." Chad said.

"Then let me explain." A familiar voice said.

"Urahara?" Ichigo said.

"I'm glad to see Ururu was of some help to you Kuchiki-san." The merchant said as he fanned himself. "As you can see, I was able to help some of your friends as well."

He waved to indicate Ishida and Mizuiro walking up behind him.

"I really must apologize to you all." He said. " I didn't mean for anyone to walk off with my doodling."

"What do you mean, doodling?" Rukia asked.

"Sometimes I get an idea and I can't rest until I put that idea into action."He said. He went into lecture mode.

"I had a passing thought one day on the nature of morale, or the warrior heart if you will. How between two warriors of equal strength and skill, the victory will go to the one with the better morale. Another way of saying the warrior with more heart. That led me to thinking ways I could supplement morale, such as creating an artificial sense of courage. It's a little like making a gikon, only instead of making up an pill for an artificial soul, I merely create a prepared mental or emotional state. Putting them in chocolate hearts was a bit of whimsy on my part, referring back to heart being essential to the warrior. And once I made enhancements, I naturally made up their counterparts to sabotage an enemy, such as artificial fear. There were other lines of research as well, but you get the gist."

Rukia was not satisfied with his explanation. "If these potions are for use on the battlefield, then what about…"

She glanced around to look as her closely gathered friends. Grabbing Urahara and Ichigo by the elbows, she dragged them both out of listening range.

"Then what bout that stupid love potion?" she whispered loudly.

Urahara looked very surprised. He held his fan in front of his face so you could barely make out his eyes from under his hat.

"Love potion?" he asked.

"Yes, love potion." She hissed. Next to her, Ichigo was turning red as a stop light. She jabbed her thumb at him. "When this one ate it, he started going on about my eyes and love and spouting poetry like a loon!"

"It was Shakespeare." Ichigo groaned.

"Whatever!" She snapped. "What possible reason could you have for making a potion like that?"

"Ah, yes, the love potion." Urahara said stiffly. He gave a sly smile. "Let's just say I made that for personal reasons, shall we?" He closed his fan with a snap and turned away.  
"Tessai." He called over. "Now."

The large man grunted and handed Rukia a bag with chocolates from a normal store.

Urahara took off his hat and gave a slight bow. "Once again, I apologize for the inconvenience we have caused one of our most treasured customers. Please accept these replacement chocolates and we have already refunded your credits."

"I've recovered what was left of the experiments" Jinta said.

"Very good." Urahara drawled. "In that case, I'll be heading home to properly dispose of this."

"Hey wait a minute!" Ichigo groused. "This was serious. You made Rukia look bad by selling her your crazy stuff. You can't just fix everything with an apology and a refund!"

"Oi, Ichigo." A voice called. Ichigo turned around to see a scuffed, bandaged, yet oddly cocky looking Keigo approaching. He marched up smartly and got right into Ichigo's face.

"You always think you're so hot, but you know, there's something I've always wanted to say to you."

Ishida looked over to Chad. "Can you assist me?" He asked as he held up one of the antidote cakes.

Chad nodded and grabbed Keigo, lifting him up off the ground.

"Hey, what are you doing!" he demanded. "Don't think I don't have some strong words for you too Chad!"

"Try one of these." Ishida said as he shoved the cake into Keigo's mouth.

"Oh man, that's foul." He spat as soon as he had swallowed most of the cake.

"Let him go Chad." Ichigo directed.

As Keigo stumbled forward, Ichigo got nose to nose with him. "Now what was that you wanted to say?" he growled.

Keigo suddenly looked very pale. "Uh, you know. I..uh..can't remember."

"That's what I thought." Ichigo said. He turned back to Urahara. "Now like I was saying…"

There was no point in continuing. Urahara and his people were gone.

* * *

As they walked down the street back to the shop, Urahara finished his notes on the recovery operation.

Two potions partially or wholly recovered from the enhancement line. One unrecovered but accounted for.

One potion partially recovered from the sabotage line, one unrecovered but accounted for.

He grinned as he wrote the last annotation.

One potion from the interrogation line, unrecovered but accounted for.

The grin got wider as he tucked his notepad into a pocket in his jacket. If only Kuchiki-san knew. The chocolate Kurosaki-san ate was not a love potion. There was nothing romantic about it at all. It was designed to make prisoners talk on the battlefield. If she had looked at it beforehand, she would have seen the symbol on it was "Truth".

* * *

Neither one felt like talking much as they started off for home again.

"Dad's going to kill us, well me at least, for coming home so late." Ichigo groused.

Rukia looked up at his face. "I'm sorry I caused so much trouble today." She said. She handed him a box of the better-be-perfectly-normal-or-else chocolates. "Happy Valentines' day. Again."

He gave a rueful grin. "Thanks, but I'm not in the mood for chocolate right now."

He stowed it in his backpack. They walked in silence for a while.

"So that was Shakespeare you were quoting?" She asked.

Ichigo could feel his ears heating up. The Antidote did nothing to erase the memories of his words and actions under the potion's influence. It was a relief to know it was all due to an errant love potion. He didn't know how he would be able to handle feelings that strong if they were real. It was like every second away from Rukia had been agony.

"Yes." He replied to her question. "He's my favorite author."

"I liked it." Rukia said. "Do you know any more?"

"Some." He said.

"I would really like to hear it." She said.

"Really?" He asked.

"Yes." She said. "It has a certain…flavor I guess you'd say."

He smiled. "That's one way to put it. All right. Here's one of his sonnets."

_Take all my loves, my love, yea take them all;_  
_What hast thou then more than thou hadst before?_  
_No love, my love, that thou mayst true love call;_  
_All mine was thine, before thou hadst this more._  
_Then, if for my love, thou my love receivest,_  
_I cannot blame thee, for my love thou usest;_  
_But yet be blam'd, if thou thy self deceivest_  
_By wilful taste of what thyself refusest._  
_I do forgive thy robbery, gentle thief,_  
_Although thou steal thee all my poverty:_  
_And yet, love knows it is a greater grief_  
_To bear love's wrong, than hate's known injury._  
_Lascivious grace, in whom all ill well shows,_  
_Kill me with spites yet we must not be foes._

When he finished, they walked in silence some more. After a while, Rukia spoke.

"That was beautiful."

Side by side, they made their way home as the streetlights came on one by one.


End file.
